Improvement in coal-scuttles



w. B. TREADWELL.

Coal Scuttie.

No. 41,244. Patented Jan. 12, 186% 71071 Mir-7W Y .4

l i i 1 UNITED STATES ATENT 'FFICE.

\V. B. TREADVVELL, OF ALBANY, NEWV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN COAL-SCUTTLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 4 1,2 l. dated January I2, 1864.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, TN. B. TREADWELL, of Albany, county of Albany, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Goal-Scuttle; and I do hereby declare that the tle complete. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention is an improved scuttle or bucket, to be used for supplying stoves, &c.,

- with fuel, having for its object the remedying of several serious defects in the coal-scuttles hitherto usedsuch, for instance, as the escape of coal over the sides of the scuttle when it is tilted up to the feed-hole of a stove, the frequent upsetting of the scuttle in consequence of a preponderating weight of coal on one side of it, and the difficulty of supplying stoves with coal from the old form of scuttle through small or even ordinary-sized feedopenings, and, finally, the danger of burning the hand when the scuttle is tilted up to empty it entirely of its contentsall of which objections I obviate, as will be seen from the following description.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2, I have represented the vertical as well as the horizontal form of my improved coalscuttle.

In Fig. 1 it will be seen that the scuttle has a small bottom, a, and that its sides flare outward, one side, I), flaring considerably more than the other, and extending some distance above the upper edge of the rear portion or side, a, so as to form a channel for the passage of the coal out of the scuttle. This side or channel b forms a very obtuse angle with the bottom a, while the side a approaches nearer to a rectangle with said bottom.

In Fig. 2 I have represented the horizontal contour of the bottom plate, a, of the scuttle,

' which is that of an oval having one end tapered to a very small rounded point. The sides or body of the scuttle are made to conform, in horizontal section, to this pointed oval figure, and as the sides are extended up from the bottom a this figure becomes greatly elongated and less flaring at the pointed end or channel in the mouth A. The back part of the body of the scuttle may be made semicircular, and the upper edges of the mouth portion A may converge toward the opposite curved lip, c, in lines which are nearly straight. The form of this month A, extending up from a bottom plate, a, of an oval figure, is one of the distinctive features of my improved scuttle, and the advantages which I derive from this form are that, without diminishing the capacity of the scuttle for containing coal, I have a gradually enlarged and elongated curved trough or channel extending from the bottom of the scuttle up to the lip c, which is so contracted laterally that its extreme end will be admitted into any feedhole in astove, &c.,whieh is large enough to receive ordinarysized lumps of coal-t. 6., withoutdiminishing the capacity of ascuttle of a given size, I contract its discharging-channel laterally, and compensate for this by increasing this channel longitudinally; but this increased length of mouth beyond the base of the scuttle would not answer for practical purposes without contracting said mouth in proportion to its length, for we would otherwise have a preponderance of weight on this side of the scuttle, which would make it very unstable, but by making the bottom a of a pointed oval form and continuing the sides of the scuttle upward and outward, preserving this form to the extent above specified, we throw the weight of coal more toward the back of the scuttle and bring the center of gravity within the base.

To completely provide against the casual upsetting of the scuttle,when it is full of-coal, I have inclined the bottom plate, a, from the base of the inclined side or end b backward; and by doing this I not only bring the weight of coal over theflaring flange O, which con- I stitutes the base of the scuttle, but Ifacilitate the emptying of the scuttle.

The object of thus prolonging the mouth of the scuttle is, tl16I'6f016,t0 obtain a laterallyreduced discharging-channel by which I am enabled to feed through a very small supplyopening, either in the side or top of a stove;

also, to increase the inclination of this channel, so that it will not be necessary to tip the bottom of the scuttle so high to discharge its contents as to bring the hand which grasps the bail in dangerous proximity to the stove a very serious objection to scuttles having their discharging sides very slightly inclined.

I am aware that coal-scuttles have been made of an elliptical flaring form, and also that there are in common use many scuttles which have an extended mouththat is contracted at its extremity into an angular lip. The first, or the elliptical kind, are objectionable if extended at the mouth, on account oftheir unsteadiness, occasioned by making the ends of their elliptical bottoms of an equal size and the sides to conform to this shape, for it will be seen that if oneside of such a scuttle was projected far beyond its base, so as to form the extended mouth represented in Fig. l, the Weight of this side would greatly preponderate, and render such a scuttle very liable to be upset. The second form of scuttie is objectionable on account of its dischargingmouth being contracted only at and near its extremity, its bottom being made circular, or nearly so. In this scuttle it will be seen that we have no determined channel for the passage of the coal, and hence the coal will clog at its suddenly contracted extremity. Neither is the last form of scuttle constructed with a view to cause the weight of coal to preponderate on the side opposite the mouth, nor to prevent the hands from being burned in supplying a stove. All of these old forms of scuttles are objectionable for another reasonviz., the difficulty of discharging the coal when the scuttle becomes nearly empty, requiring the coal to be tossed out of it into the stove, which operation batters'and impairs its mouth as well as injures the door-frame of the stove.

The difficulty of preventing coal from falling over the sides of the scuttle-mouth is also to a great extent remedied by the deep curved channel and narrow tapering mouth which I have in my scuttle; but to effectually guard against this difficulty I attach a curved or concavo-convex guard or fender, D, on each .converging edge of the mouth A, both of which curve inward and taper toward their rear ends, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The edges of these two fenders may be brought together at their highest points and attached by a rivet at this point, as indicated in Fig. 2 in red; but it is preferable that a space he left between the overhanging edges of these fenders for the purpose of preventing the lodgmcnt of lumps of coal in emptying the scuttle. By having these fenders separate, and leaving a space between their edges, as

shown in the drawings, I avoid an objection to the full hood or half closed cover hitherto used, which consists in the inconvenience of getting at the coal should the mouth of the scuttle become choked up.

In covering the mouth of a scuttle entirely the only object is to prevent the dust from rising from the coal; but this is of less importance than being enabled to keep the .mouth of the scuttle free during the emptying of coal into a stove. By leaving the open space between the edges of the fenders I am enabled to poke the coal into the stove, should any of the lumps lodge against these fenders. Instead of making these two fenders D D of separate pieces and then riveting them to the mouth of the scuttle, they may be formed on the edge of that portion of the sheet of metal which constitutes the mouth A, and bent so as to give somewhat the form represented in the drawings. The edges of the fenders may be wired to stiffen them, or they may be stiffened in any other manner.

I do not claim a scuttle having a full cover and a man hole in the cover; nor do I here claim a scuttle with a half cover or'hood; neither do I claim a scuttle having an elliptical bottom plate; but,

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s

1. A coal scuttle or bucket constructed with an oval instead of elliptical bottom plate, a, an extended and contracted channeled mouth, A, and a semicircular back, substantially as described.

2. In combination, the oval flange-base 0, oval bottom plate, a, and oval body A a b, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2, for the purposes described.

3. Inelining the oval bottom plate, a, backward from the base of the channel I), in combination with a longitudinally-extended and laterally-contracted mouth, A, substantially as described.

4.. Although I do not claim, broadly. a covered scuttle-mouth, I do claim the two side fenders, D D, so applied to the scuttle-mouth as to admit of the use of a poker, when necessary, to prevent said mouth from choking up with coal in emptying the scuttle, substantially as described.

5. A coal scuttle constructed in all particulars substantially as herein described.

In acknowledgment that I claim the foregoing I hereby affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses. v

' W. B. TREADWELL.

Witnesses:

F. VAN EMBROUGH, JOHN S. PERRY. 

